Martinez has all the right moves

All the right moves?

Edwin Martinez has a few of them.

Also he has fit in quite well since returning to the Round Lake boys soccer team and helping the Panthers get a leg up in the North Suburban Conference Prairie Division race.

Martinez, who moved back to Round Lake this summer after spending his last two years at Lakes, returned with quite a flair to the Eagles' lair in Lake Villa Tuesday afternoon.

He scored a couple of goals, while Gilberto Alfaro notched 2 goals and an assist. Jordi Rubio had another goal, and Cesar Garcia and Alex Muria each picked up assists.

That enabled the Panthers to roll past the Eagles 5-1.

"We ended up moving back to Round Lake," said Martinez, who played at Round Lake his freshman year. "It was a family decision. I would have stayed here (Lakes). Actually, both teams are having a good season. All the Lakes guys know me and we get along."

The Panthers (8-1-1) are unbeaten in division play at 4-0. They have a makeup match against Vernon Hills on Monday and a match with Grant left on their schedule.

"We still have two more games," said Panthers coach Mike Hruska. "We still have two more to win. In past years, we've had trouble getting the ball in the back of the net. As long as we get goals. we can loosen things up with our attack and keep on going."

Martinez opened the scoring in the 31st minute when he converted a Lakes defensive miscue to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead.

"I just picked up the mistake and found the net," said Martinez, who netted his 11th goal of the season. "We just take advantage of other teams' mistakes and use them."

Alfaro made it 2-0 in favor of the Panthers a couple of minutes later, finishing after Cesar Garcia hit a ball near post.

The Panthers scored twice in 54 seconds during the opening minute of the second half to take a 4-0 advantage.

Martinez got his second goal unassisted, and 34 seconds later, Alfaro scored off an assist from Murua.

Jordi Rubio, a freshman added an insurance goal in the 61st minute.

Lakes (8-5, 2-1) got its only goal in the 63rd minute, when Steven Korosis took a pass from Matt Beadle.

"They push the ball up so much, it's hard to stop them." said Lakes sweeper William Lebavitz. "We tried to slow them down a bit. They just kept coming, switching the ball and crossing it."

"You can't take away the good soccer Round Lake played," said Lakes coach Kevin Kullby. "Round Lake moves the ball well and their a good team. This is the best Round Lake team I've seen in my 12 years of coaching in the area."